Civil Society Coalition to Stop Maternal Mortality in Uganda

Press Statement for Immediate Release: February 5, 2015

Civil Society Demands Government of Uganda Halt Plan

to Export Life Saving Health Workers
(Kampala) A coalition of civil society organizations today criticized a controversial plan by the Government of
Uganda to export almost 300 professional health workers to the tiny oil-rich Caribbean nation of Trinidad and
Tobago. The plan, which is being challenged in High Court, would result in Ugandaa country suffering from a
critical health worker shortage according to the World Health Organisationbeing further depleted of midwives,
doctors, psychiatrists, and other highly sought-after cadres of health workers. The coalition also reacted for the
first time to the filings of the Attorney General in response to the Court case, claiming that the filings reveal a
government out of touch with the struggle for access to life saving health services.
If this plan is implemented, it will mean more suffering and preventable death in our communities, particularly
among pregnant women, newborns, people with HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and other leading causes of
preventable death in Uganda, said Joshua Wamboga, Director of Uganda Alliance of Patient Organisations.
Government should be increasing health worker remuneration, improving working conditions and increasing the
wage bill so that our clinics are finally saturated with motivated health workers. Instead our duty bearers are
defying their own evidence, and want to actively support health workers to leave. We will not allow this to
happen.
Civil societys preliminary analysis of the government plan indicates that any remittance generated by health
workers exported overseas would fail to compensate for the economic costs associated with catastrophic illness
and increased rates of death. Moreover, the economic gains a productive health worker brings to communities
greatly exceed projected remittances generated.
We are surprised by this plan. Government is supporting the export of our most prized resourceour health
workers, which are in scarce supply in the health system and are a national treasure, said Sam Senfuka of
White Ribbon Alliance Uganda. Export should only be considered if a country has a surplus of somethingthat
is basic economics. We have analysed this plan and we believe it should be stopped.
Uganda is suffering from an acute shortage of health workers, caused by multiple factors, including poor pay and
working conditions, artificial ceilings on recruitment of health workers due to insufficient government investment
in the health sector. The shortage of health workers is killing Ugandans, particularly the most vulnerable and the
poorest, said Dennis Odwe of AGHA Uganda. Will government make this crisis worse? How can they spend
hundreds of billions on VIP care abroad when our people are suffering here at home?
According to Ministerial Policy Statement for the Health Sector 2013/14, poor wages and insufficient numbers of
health workers have caused a persistent service delivery gap. In addition, in 2014 new data have emerged that
in Health Center IVs with increased numbers of doctors and midwives, there have been an increased trend in
Caesarian Sections and blood transfusionsessential components of life saving Emergency Obstetric Care (see
p 60, AHSPR). A recent analysis by Ministry of Finance identified inadequate numbers of health workers as the
main cause of persistently high preventable maternal death.
Uganda should stop defying its own evidence, and substantially increase investment in the health workforce so
that citizens seeking health care do not face a death trap, said Asia Russell of Health GAP. Trinidad is a tiny, oil
rich, high income country with only 1.3 million people and no health worker crisis. Uganda has an acute shortage
of health workers that can only be fixed through investing in better pay, better working conditions, and better
management. Exporting health workers is dead wrong.
CALL FOR ACTION: Civil society is demanding that this plan by halted, and instead that Government recruit at
least 2400 additional health workers in FY2015/16, and substantially increase the remuneration of critical cadres
of health workers, in particular midwives, along with investment in a package non financial incentives to improve
retention, including staff accommodation. This plan should focus on hard to reach Districts, where inequities are
greatest. Contact for more information: Claire Mugisha, AGHA Uganda 0756 093 926, Justinian Kateera, IPPR
Uganda 0785 610 610; Noor Nakibuuka Musisi, CEHURD 0782 496 681; Asia Russell, Health GAP 0776 574
729; Sam Senfuka, White Ribbon Alliance Uganda 0704 920 042